Take A Chance
by pdftandprongs
Summary: Lily Evans has always hated James Potter. What did it take her for her to finally fall in love with her somewhat arrogant prince? The Marauders and Lily's 7th year. JPLE SBOC RLOC
1. Chapter 1

James Potter was making his way to the scarlet steam engine, looking for his friends. He hadn't been there long having just left his house. He had just said emotional goodbyes to his parents who were getting a little elderly and couldn't make the trip with him to the platform. As he turned, he heard an attractive female voice say "Hello, James." He looked and saw a pretty sixth year girl he barely recognized and winked at her. She blushed and hurried away. He turned back to the mass of people looking for anyone familiar. "Oi! Potter!" yelled an unfamiliar voice behind him. He already knew that it wasn't anyone he was searching for but turned back to the source anyways. James slowly realized it was a Hufflepuff from their year. As he raised his hand to wave, he saw his best friend over the boy's shoulder. James left him in mid sentence, not caring to notice the boy's hurt look.

He met Sirius half way, noticing many female eyes flickering to him. With dark shaggy hair and clear gray eyes, Sirius Black was always the object of many girls' affection. But he never got all the attention, since just as many girls seemed to enjoy James Potter's perfectly messy black hair and bright hazel eyes. The fact that he was Gryffindor's Quidditch hero never seemed to go against him either. Actually, most to all girls seemed to love him. All but one. The beautiful red head was standing a few yards away talking to her parents but James pretended not to see. When he reached Sirius, he punched him hard in the arm and said sarcastically, "Long time no see."

Sirius grinned back easily and said, "I'm glad that's over. Got all my stuff, Prongs. I guess be around for a little while."

"Damn," James muttered, pretending to be upset by the news. Sirius had left James's house, which he stayed at all summer, for the last week to collect all things and tell his parents that he would never be back. He was more than happy to share his house with his best friend, especially if it meant that Sirius never had to return to his home.

"Shall we find Remus and Peter?" Sirius asked, mockingly bowing James forward. James stepped gently forward and pretended to blush. The crowd of girls laughed hysterically trying to catch their attention. Unfortunately, James was watching the red head turn to the source of noise. Her stunning green eyes narrowed as they met James's hazel ones. He raised his hand to wave, but she just rolled her eyes and turned away.

"That went well," muttered James.

"Hm?" Sirius asked barley turning his head to see James's dejected look and said, "Ah, Evans?" He quickly turned back away and gave a charming smile to a curvy 7th year girl. Sirius couldn't stand hearing James obsess over such a girl when he could have anyone he wanted. They got on to the Hogwarts Express and went a short distance to the best compartment on the train. It had been the Marauder's compartment ever since 3rd year and no one even tried to steal it since they cursed anyone who came within distance of it. James tried not to pay attention to his racing heart as Lily Evans was boarding the train a few people behind them.

As Sirius and James made their way, Snape passed, but apparently didn't see them. Sirius stuck his leg out at the last minute and sent Snape sprawling. Several people on and off the train started laughing along with Sirius. But James pushed Sirius forward into their compartment before Snape could react. He didn't want to have to duel Snape in front of Lily, especially since it seemed to piss her off so much. He had one more year, one last chance.

Once the door was close, Sirius turned and looked at James with question in his eyes. James merely shrugged and said lamely, "I didn't want to have to duel…" Sirius looked at him with a slight smirk as if he understood more than he did. But then again, he probably did. He turned to Remus and Peter, who had been inside all along talking, and said happily, "Moony! Wormtail! Cute hair cut, Moony." Remus's usually somewhat long light brown hair had been shaven, probably by his mother's orders. She hated it when Remus's hair got long while he was away. She had said once in a letter that it made him look like a wild animal. That sent all the Marauders into hysterics for 10 minutes. James wasn't paying attention to conversation at all. The train started to move under their feet. As it gathered speed, Peter asked, "How do you feel? Last ride to Hogwarts."

"Glad," Sirius and James answered at the same time. "One year and I'm gone," James continued happily.

"Is that any way for Head Boy to talk?" ask Sirius with amusement. Sirius had ragged on James all summer for getting the badge, as he very well should have. James had no idea what Dumbledore was thinking.

James grinned and said, "Ah, Padfoot, I can just smell the jealousy. Speaking of which," he continued as Sirius opened his mouth to argue, "I must make my way to the Head's compartment for my important meeting." He ended the statement sarcastically and asked Remus if he was coming.

"Nah, I got a while but have fun with Evans," he said his brow eyes twinkling.

"What?!" James nearly yelled, halfway through the door. Sirius rolled his eyes and Peter said, "Well, obviously she's Head Girl, you git." James considered this looking into Peters' squinty watery eyes under his sandy blonde bowl cut hair. Then he put on a high voice and asked, "Does my hair look alright?"

"Just go!" said Sirius pushing him out of the compartment door and slamming it. Grinning, James made his way to the front of the train.


	2. Chapter 2

James made his way to the front of the train where the head's compartment was. People popped their heads out to say "Hi" as he passed. He smiled smugly and replied to each guy, winked at the girls, and ignored the glares from the Slytherins. Usually, he would've cursed the hell out of them, but it was seventh year, and he really just didn't care anymore.

When he reached the heads compartment, he saw Lily Evans for first time without quickly looking away. He hesitated outside of the door, trying to slow his heart down and think of something funny to say. Before he could even pull himself together, he opened the compartment door, anxious to talk to her. She was engrossed in a book, but her head snapped up as soon as she heard the opening of the door. James had forgotten how beautiful she was.

"Remus isn't here," Lily told him, returning to her book. The 'obviously' was well implied.

"As he shouldn't be!" James said in mock outrage. "This is the _head's _compartment, after all."

"Potter, what are you on about…?" the question trailed off as Lily's eyes found the head boy badge pinned to his robes. "Oh, no," she whispered, horrified.

"I know, right?" he said shaking his head sadly. "Just as you start to find a lot of respect for Dumbledore, he pulls something like this."

"Is this some sort of joke?" she whispered, apparently unable to bring her voice any higher. James shifted awkwardly in his seat, uncomfortable by her reaction.

"Well, no," James started cautiously. "But you could talk to Sirius. He seemed to have a lot of jokes _on_ the subject." Lily stared at him and he took the opportunity happily to stare back. He seemed unable to move past her stunning green eyes when she said in a brisk manner,

"You can go back to your own compartment. I've seen this done for two years, both of us are not really needed." She waited expectantly, but James stayed.

"Am I really such a burden?" he asked sadly. She seemed taken aback by the question when the Prefects came in. Lily was right; James contributed as nothing but a distraction to all the girls. As she talked about the passwords, James just stared at her with admiration. He saw Remus shaking his head out of the corner of his eye and turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Anything to add, _Head boy_?" Lily asked sarcastically. He chuckled lightly and turned to the boy sitting across from him.

"You're a beater for Ravenclaw, right?" Some of the boys groaned and all the girls giggled at James's comment, except Lily, who glared pointedly. "Right, joke," he said raising his hands in mock surrender. He turned to Lily and said sincerely, "I think you explained everything beautifully." Lily glared but James noticed a small blush creep into her cheeks. He grinned and continued, "Any questions feel free, but I think you'd be better off with asking Lily." It was really the first time he had used her first name and he loved the sound of it. _Lily. _Everyone got up and left. Remus raised an eyebrow at James, who quickly shook his head. Remus left then, leaving the two heads alone.

It was obvious they were both waiting on the other to say something, but neither could think of anything. Finally, Lily said,  
"Well, I guess you better be off. Some broomsticks to sign, right?"

James grinned but instead of answering asked, "How come you don't ride?"

"And make a fool out of myself?" she scoffed. "Yeah, right!"

James stood there for a second staring straight into her eyes. She looked back, shocked by the direct eye contact. He inched closer to you. "So," he whispered still moving towards her. He knew he should stop, but just couldn't. The fact that people were moving past the windows and staring inside didn't register to Lily. All she could do was look into James's eyes. "Is that why you won't go out-?"

"POTTER!" Lily yelled in shock, breaking them both of the spell. "Do you really think so highly of yourself? Everyone else on the train would cut of a finger to go out with you. Ask THEM! Not me!"

A quick silence followed. James walked towards the door and opened it. Halfway through, he turned back to her. "You don't really mean that. Not truly," he told her quietly. Before she could explode again, he closed the door.

Lily stood there in shocked silence for a full minute before she hurried out of the compartment to find her own friends. They all giggled as Lily walked in. She looked at them expectantly, when Mary, Lily's best friend in the whole world, said,

"We just saw _James Potter _walk by, wearing his shiny _badge_." Lily glared as they tried to stifle their laughter.

"You don't have to use his full name like it's a title."  
"How was it?" Sam asked, ignoring Lily's grumpiness on the subject. Sam and Mary had been best friends with Lily all throughout Hogwarts. Lily and Mary had always been a little closer though. Lily had once compared it to the situation between James, Sirius, and Remus. Then she had wanted to slap herself for thinking about them at all.

"He did nothing but inform me that the only reason I wouldn't go out with him was because I was afraid of being embarrassed. Which I guess is partially true, since it would be a humiliation," Lily told the two.

"Oh, I don't think he meant it like that," said Sam, happily. "He probably just realizes that the only reason you won't go out with him is because you're afraid he'll use you just like he's done to a bunch of other girls. So, you'll get attached, he'll finally get you and then he'll break up with you, leaving you heartbroken. Well, at least that's what you _think_. But I think you're wrong."  
"I-what?" Lily spluttered. "That's not why I won't go out with him! He's completely arrogant."

"He has all reason to be," Mary laughed. "He looks even better this year!"

"You and the rest of the female population can think that but I'll never agree," Lily told them, harshly. Sam and Mary just shook their heads and rolled their eyes, but didn't mention James again for the rest of the ride. The two had hoped that the Marauders would stop by like they had done years before. But, Mary thought, James had done enough damage for one day. He probably wanted to steer clear.

The girls passed the long ride telling stories about their summer and playing card games. But soon all of them were bored and hungry, so it was no disappointment when the train pulled into the station, beginning their final year at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, isn't this just the most convenient coincidence," drawled Sirius as he, James, Peter, and Remus stepped off the train at the exact same time as the girls.

"Yeah, lucky us," Lily muttered sarcastically, but no one heard. She felt James's gaze on her and looked at him. He smiled at her uncertainly and Lily blushed remembering what Sam had said earlier. She turned away from him quickly.

"Oh! We should get a carriage together!" squealed Sam happily, looking eagerly at Sirius. He gave her a smile and answered smoothly:

"I'm sure my friends agree when I say that it'd be more than a pleasure to be accompanied by such a beautiful group of ladies."

Sam and Mary giggled excitedly, but Lily snorted as Peter and Remus rolled their eyes and lead the others to the carriages. They finally found a free one and Mary sat down right beside Remus immediately. She was so pretty in a subtle way with wavy dirty blonde hair and pretty brown eyes. Lily could tell the two had missed each other a lot over the summer, but whenever they had tried to get together, something seemed to come up. Sirius jumped in after them and patted a seat suggestively beside him for Sam. Sam threw back her beautiful brown hair and laughed as she climbed in. She grinned at Sirius as she sat down, her electric blue eyes shinning. Sam and Sirius's relationship had always been somewhat odd. It started off as a 'friends with benefits' thing but they soon turned into best friends and their constant hooking up took a back seat, oddly enough. They both got really awkward when the other would go out with someone else, but would never admit. Everyone seemed to accept the fact that they needed to just go out, but neither Sam nor Sirius would admit it.

It ended up that due to the amount of people and the boys' big builds; they were squished rather uncomfortably in the compartment. Lily was the most uncomfortable of them all, since she was squished between James's hard muscled frame and the wall of the carriage. He didn't seem to upset by the fact, though, as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Potter," she started.

"Evans," he said before she could continue. "Just trying to make room." Lily looked over to see he had his arm around Sam, too. Everyone was wrapped up in individual conversation and Lily felt awkward as she was forced into talking with James.

"Way to take one for the team," Lily said sarcastically after some time. James laughed quietly and it was only then that she realized how close he was to her. She felt the hot blush creep into her cheeks. He leaned down to Lily's ear and whispered,

"Well, I can't complain. Of course, it's only the beauty on my right that I care about." Lily blushed even harder and tried to scoff, but all that came out was something like a meek cough.

"I never lie," James continued in a silky whisper. "When I say these things, I mean every word. You are truly the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on." He voiced burned with sincerity and Lily was shocked into silence for the rest of the trip.

When they had finally reached Hogwarts, Lily had come to three conclusions. One was that no matter how much genuineness James had delivered those lines to her, it had meant nothing. She had no doubt that he had said the same thing to many other girls. In fact, how many other girls she didn't even want to know. Second being that the butterflies she had felt in her stomach had nothing to do with him. If any guy had said that to her, she would have had butterflies. It defiantly meant beyond nothing. The third conclusion was that, of course, Lily hated James even more now.

As soon as Peter opened the door, everyone fell out onto the road, their stomachs growling with impatience. Lily waited expectantly for James to rewrap his arm around her and was quite ready for the response. Instead, he jumped out and stretched. Then he, Sirius, Remus, and Peter formed a line and walked to the castle together. The girls followed suit a few steps behind them.

Sam immediately let out a low whistle. Low enough so the boys couldn't hear, she said,

"Maryyy anddddd Remussss sittin' in a tree…"All three of them broke out into giggles.

"Do you think?" Mary whispered uncertainly.

"Um, are you blind?" Lily asked in a regular tone. Both Mary and Sam hissed at her to "Sh!" Then they all broke out into laughter as the boys turned around the see what was going on. Right when Peter was about to say something they were interrupted.

"Hello, James," said a voice behind the boys. James and Sirius's heads whipped around but Remus and Peter continued to look in the other direction both seemingly weary. Lily slowly looked up. Standing in the doorway of the castle, illuminated from behind like an angel, stood Alexa. She had the long, perfect blonde hair that shone like it was always in sunlight. Her eyes were especially beautiful, because their blueness took on a purplish tint that any girl would kill for. Well, either for those or for the body that made any guy within a ten-foot radius check her out.

"Alexa," James greeted, his voice deep and mature sounding. Alexa had always had this huge thing for James, probably since around third year. Lily thought they had probably gotten together once or twice before, but that was it. It was common knowledge to anyone at Hogwarts that even though any boy would have her, James was the exception. And, of course, James is all she wanted. She turned slowly and sauntered off, knowingly giving the boys a good chance to check her out as she walked away.

"_Damn_, Prongs," Sirius said as they started walking again. James responded in too low of a voice for the girls to hear, but all the Marauders starting laughing at whatever the comment was. Lily felt so angry with herself for the anger she felt towards Alexa and James. How could he possibly wonder why Lily wouldn't go out with him?! He had been with more than half the school! Well, that was fine. Why should it bother her, anyways? She continued to think things over in her head and soon Lily found herself sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall without even realizing how she had gotten there.

She saw a sixth-year boy out of the corner of her eye checking her out. The exchange between James and Alexa motivated her to turn to him and flash a seductive smile. The boy seemed taken aback at first, but grinned back eagerly.

"Ah, Evans, don't get up his hopes," James whispered earnestly from the other side of the table.

"Don't worry," Lily said, turning away from the boy and looking James straight in the eye. "I plan on fulfilling his hopes."

James was so shocked by her comment that he just stared at her with his mouth slightly gaping open. This made Lily feel ashamed of herself, of course, because what was she really doing? Trying to get James Potter jealous? By acting like such a slut? It really wasn't like her to say such a thing. She ashamedly ignored the boy's attempts to catch her eye again while they ate dinner.

Soon as pudding started, James seemed to be back to normal. To his large crowd of admirers he announced loudly,

"This year we are winning the Quidditch Cup…again!" The whole table burst into cheers and whistles. Sirius even jumped out of his seat.

"THREE AND OH! THREE AND OH!" Pointing over to the Slytherin table Sirius started chanting, reminding the Slytherin house rather forcibly of the shut out the Gryffindors had going on them since fourth year in the Quidditch cup finals. Soon, all the Gryffindors were chanting, and James, smiling broadly, tried half heartedly to stop Sirius, avoiding Lily's glares.

It only truly stopped when Dumbledore got up to give his start of term speech. As James turned to look at him, Lily sent him a death glare. Sighing, James started, "Evans…"

She completely ignored James's repeated tries to get her attention throughout the speech. Eventually, Lily picked up her fork and stabbed him, well _lightly,_ in his hand that he was resting on the table. He sighed another dejected sigh and joined Lily in not listening to a word Dumbledore said.


	4. Chapter 4

The Great Hall broke out into loud noise, cuing James into the fact that speech had finally in fact ended, thankfully. He jumped up, nearly sprinting for the door, desperate to be by himself, to think. But instead, James heard Lily's voice across from him.

"We have to talk to Dumbledore," Lily said oddly polite, but not meeting his eyes. James inwardly groaned. He had forgotten about the 'meeting' they were supposed to have with the Headmaster after the start of term feast. They walked to the front high table of the quickly empting Great Hall. James seriously considered just turning and walking out. He never asked for this stupid position, nor had he ever wanted it. He probably would've turned his badge in there and now if his parents hadn't been so thrilled. And, he admitted grudgingly, the fact that he didn't want any other guy to ever be able to spend as much time with Lily as he was about to get to do.

"Lily Evans! So good to see you, m'girl!" Slughorn boomed to the pair as they approached. Lily smiled back easily and said, "Nice to see you again, Professor."

"It is nice to see you _both_!" Dumbeldore agreed when they had finally reached the table. "Now I'm sure you've read your head letters." James was sure Lily repressed a scoff with some difficulty at that. "The password to your dormitory, James, is 'Chocolate Frog.' Lily, yours is 'Sugar Quill.' Both of you feel free to change it at anytime. Now, I just wanted to add that I have complete faith in you two to do a wonderful job as Heads. Many students look up to the both of you and I will need you to set a wonderful example. Please, do not abuse your powers in anyway, and," Dumbeldore paused, his eyes twinkling between James and Lily, "try to, hm, work well together."

James smirked at the Headmaster. "Yes, sir," he replied.

"Yes, sir," Lily added quickly, feeling completely confused. They both turned and left, making their ways to the Head dorms. James felt like he could've easily sat down on the steps and just sleep there for the night. Instead, he dragged his legs up the first set of stairs, Lily by his side. He turned and walked towards the wall, too tired to realize he was giving away one of the best shortcuts in the whole caste.

"What are you doing?" Lily cut into his thoughts, clearly asking his sanity. James started back to reality and realized he must look like an idiot, walking into a seemingly brick wall.

"Um." James quickly debated inside his head. Giving this shortcut away to someone other than a Marauder was treason. He could easily say he just got turned around. But then again…

"It's a short cut," he told Lily earnestly, his eyes twinkling was mischief. "Come with me. It's so much faster."

Lily hesitated for a fraction of a second and followed him. James walked through first and politely waited for her to follow him. The tunnel was dark and they walked close to each other, their shoulders brushing, as well as their hands. James felt a small thrill in the pit of his stomach. He had never shared this secret passage with anyone, minus his friends. He felt like he was giving away part of true self to her right then, trying to show her his decency. Whether or not she saw, he had no idea. He didn't want to ruin the moment by talking, by giving her a chance to get mad at him. He was wide-awake now, and if he could, he would've walked side by side in the passage with her, silently, forever.

They reached the ending of the tunnel and James hesitated. So did Lily.

"Thank you…James," Lily whispered up to him. The grin that spread right then, literally lit his face. He was so glad she had stopped using surname all the time. Maybe that was a sign…?

He hadn't even noticed it but he was slowly leaning in towards her. He saw her eyes widen in the dim light. He stopped immediately in his tracks, realizing what he was doing. He cleared his throat and straightened up. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and James was afraid he had completely ruined it. Everything he had built up to that night and now-

"It's late," she said quietly, but not rudely at all. He nodded even though she probably couldn't see it.

"Yeah. Ladies first," he said smirking and bowing. Lily rolled her eyes and walked through the opening right in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Nice," she said appreciatively. James chuckled and realized with a slight shock that she still had a bright blush on her cheeks. His stomach gave another leap as they went into the deserted Gryffindor common room.

"Well," James yawned loudly and ruffled the back his hair. He literally froze in mid-action when he realized what he was doing and how much it made Lily mad. He heard Lily giggle from across the common room, pausing outside her door.

"Good night, James," she said with another slight giggle.

"Good night, sweet Lily," he nearly sang out. She just sighed but James heard a slight laugh behind it. He heard her door open and once he was sure she was in her room, turned right back around and left the common room.

He stood outside the Fat Lady, searching through his magically expanded pockets for the Marauder's Map and his very own invisibility cloak. He heard the Fat Lady make a disapproving noise behind him.

"Head Boy, indeed," she scoffed. James chuckled and threw the Invisibility Cloak around him. He checked the Map wearily and was off.

Ever since being made Quidditch Captain in his fourth year, James had always had Prefect privileges. So tonight, he made his way to the Prefects bathroom. It wasn't an unordinary routine. He usually went the night before a Quidditch game to calm him down, so he could get a good night sleep for the game. Tonight, he was way too wired to even consider sleeping and a big bubble bath was just what he needed. He laughed to himself at the thought.

After he had filled the swimming pool sized bath with millions of bubbles, he sank down to the bottom and resurfaced. At first, he simply tried to ignore the true reason for no sleep. But all at once he let it all crash into him.

_Lily._

What would it take to finally, finally, get her to be his. He only had one year left. James could literally feel the time ticking away before him. He had to be slow but fast, different, but himself at the same time. And then again, what if he wasn't able to make her his girlfriend? What if he failed, once again, and this year would end all his chances.

"Prongs?"

James gulped down nearly a gallon of bubble water and whirled around. He looked everywhere, crazily, to see where the voice had come from.

"Common mate, I know you're around somewhere…"

Slowly James made the connection, and reach towards his discarded cloak. He pulled the old mirror from the pocket and held it out in front of his face. Sirius was on the other side, looking confused.

"Where are you?" Sirius asked, sounding slightly revolted by James's shirtless body and wet hair.

"Taking a bubble bath," James answered back easily, chuckling slightly.

"Whatever," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Listen, we're having a real start of term party up here. Come and join us."

James could hear Remus in the backround singing loudly. There was clinking of bottles and music. James debated for a second realizing for the first time that he was truly exhausted.

"Come on, Head boy. Don't let us down."

James hesitated for a second. If he went he was sure to forget about Lily…

"Give me a few minutes."


	5. Chapter 5

Remus's watch woke all the boys up bright and early the next morning.

"Turn that wretched thing off!" howled Sirius, lying shirtless on the floor with his hands pressed up against his ears.

"Stop yelling!" shouted a 5th year that was face down on Remus's bed.

"Will all of you shut up?" James asked quietly but firmly. That settled it. Groaning, all the Gryffindor boys from 5th, 6th, and 7th year got up. They had passed out some time around 4 o'clock, strewn across the 7th years' dormitory. Some amazing house elf had already cleaned up the debris of bottles, food, and trash. No one talked, their headaches silencing them. When they were ready to go down to breakfast, all the boys went silently over to where the Marauders were standing in a corner. James was opening up Peter's bedside table and started handing out vials of potion. Immediately after drinking it, all the boys' headaches went away and they immediately felt reenergize. The potion had been a brilliant find by Peter, who had searched in the Library after a particular rough morning followed by a victory party for the Quidditch team. Of course, he had needed James, Sirius, and Remus's help, but they didn't mind. It was an excellent solution.

Soon, they all filed out of their tower to make their way down to the Great Hall. Eyes followed the huge group of boys as the entered and soon James and Sirius were cornered. As soon as they had entered, Alexa and her best friend, Nicole, got up from the Hufflepuff table to greet them. Nicole looked like Alexa in build, but instead had straight, jet-black hair, and big green eyes. But James had never found them as beautiful as Lily's. Nicole's were always hidden by a bunch of make-up, where as Lily left hers natural and beautiful for the whole world to see. Nicole had the same kind of fixation with Sirius as Alexa had with James. James and Sirius had, at first, found it funny, but now they both were getting somewhat tired of it.

"Hey boys, don't I get a welcome back hug, Sirius?" Nicole asked flirtatiously. As she and Sirius hugged, Alexa slid up next to James.

"I wrote you this summer," she said as if James would've had no idea. He just nodded, remembering the way he had crumpled up her letter inviting him to a Quidditch game with her. "If you're playing hard to get," she whispered in his ear, standing on her tip toes, "it's working." James couldn't help himself and gave a slight chuckle. He then told her he was hungry and needed to go to his table. As soon as Sirius extracted himself from Nicole, the boy's headed towards their table.

"Oh, and James?" Alexa drawled from behind him. He stifled a sigh, and turned around. "I won't wait much longer," she said seductively. Boys within hearing distance turned and looked jealously at James, who was completely oblivious to their envy. He just laughed again and nodded.

"Slightly obsessed, but incredibly hot," Sirius observed when James had turned around again.

"Slightly neurotic is more like it," James said, sitting down next to Remus towards the end of the table. He started laughing at James's statement but stopped when Mary came with Lily and Sam to sit down next to them.

"Do you mind?" Mary asked Remus, motioning to the seat next to him and smiling.

"Please," Remus replied, a huge grin spreading across his face. Lily and Sam both looked at each other and smiling broadly, as were the other boys.

"Ohhh, Remussss-OW," Sirius started but was soon cut off. "What was that for?" he asked James who had just elbowed him.

"I had a feeling you were about to deserve it," James said, smirking as his friend rubbed his side where James had elbowed him. Lily started to laugh, but quickly stopped herself as James filled up his plate with obscene amount of food. Did he have any manners? As James started shoving food in mouth, someone behind him made a noise in effort to get his attention. He ignored it. If they wanted to talk to him, they could announce themselves at least.

"Um, James Potter?" asked a voice behind him. He sighed slightly, just wanting to finish eating and go hang in the common room. After he had swallowed, he grunted to show he was listening, and continue to consume half his meal in one bite.

"I was wondering when you were holding tryouts?" the person seemed put off by the fact that James hadn't turned around. He took his time chewing and swallowing before saying,

"Sorry, I'm not holding them this year. My whole teams returning from last year and we're pretty solid. Sorry." James did feel slightly bad; he had a soft spot for people wanting to join the team, but not soft enough to drag him out at night to hold a pointless tryout.

"That's too bad, because I heard your seeker is pretty dodgy and I have to say, I've never been beaten before."

"Yeah, 'cause you've never played," Sirius snorted, his back also to the person.

"Actually, I just moved here," they said simply.

Sirius and James looked at each other first, and then turned around. Standing behind them was a girl, about their age, with straight blonde hair and big brown eyes. Her skin was pretty tan, which stood out among the students of Hogwarts, who were all pretty pale. She was actually incredibly good looking, in the girl-next-door kind of way.

"I'm Claire," she said, holding out her hand. James quickly pulled himself together and shook it. "All I'm asking for is one shot," she said. "I've been playing my whole life non-stop, and it would suck not to play at all this year." Her big brown eyes were begging. James considered her.

"Tonight, you against our current seeker. But don't spread it around, this is a private tryout."

"You will not regret it!" she said flashing a confident smile and walking off.

"Cocky, huh?" Sirius asked when she left.

"Yeah, Potter, you and her will get along just fine," Lily couldn't resist. James raised his head quickly to see if she looked angry, but was pleasantly surprised to find her smiling at him from across the table. He grinned back and said,

"You know, there's nothing wrong with a little confidence."

Lily scoffed. "A little? Sure, nothing wrong with that. But you seem to have a little trouble with knowing the difference between a little confidence and a lot of arrogance." She smiled while she said it, but James felt to true criticism behind her comment.

James opened his mouth to respond, and everyone at the table braced themselves for the comment that would soon be turned around to make him look like an ass. Instead, he closed his mouth, smiled, and looked at her.

"You're right, Lily," he said easily. "I do have a bit of a problem with that."

"Schedules!" McGonagall called out into the shocked silence that consumed their table. "Potter, Potter, Potter…Ah, here we are." As McGonagall went over the schedule with James, Lily sat there in shock.

"Now who looks immature?" Sirius snickered across the table. Remus elbowed his other side. "Ow!"

"Mr. Black?" McGonagall said, knowing she wouldn't have to look far to find him.

"Well, if you all will excuse me," James said, getting up, " I do believe I have a seeker I need to go speak to."

Lily's head followed him as he walked down towards the middle of the table, wondering if this was maybe the start of something new.


End file.
